People have been worried about my cholesterol

My diet at the moment roughly contains of;

0% carbohydrates
80% fat
20% protein

as I'm still on the extreme version.


A lot of "self taught doctors" our there have been warning me that my cholesterol much be "through the roof" and "oh this is so dangerous". And of course it worries me when people go around saying things like that to me. It scares me to hear that my arteries are clogging up as we speak and I will pretty much die an early death. So i went for a test.

You want your cholesterol to be no higher than 5.7. Mine was 3.2 - the lower part of normal.
Is that enough for people to shut it for a bit?

Why am I stuck?

You're getting two posts closely together now but this is something I'd like to bring up.
I've realised lately that I'm not losing weight anymore. I've got 5 kilos left and nothing's happening. Apparently there are quite a few reasons as to why this could happen.

Here are a few

You have been on diets before

If you have been on a diet before, and especially one where you drastically reduce calories in order to lose weight. Then your body will do its best to get energy from anything that comes in to make sure it survives. It holds on to al the fat that's in there as fat gives the most energy.
After a diet like this, you will need to reassure your body that you're not going to starve it and it's only after that's been done it will start letting go of the kilos.

You are stressed

When you are stressed or doesn't sleep properly our body has another survival mechanism, releasing cortisol, which gives us more energy in stressful situations. When this happens the blood sugar is raised so insulin is released. When insulin is released the body changes its settings to store fat.

You don't know what you're eating

When being out in town it's hard to know what you eat. Also it's easy to get into the habit of thinking that it's little carbs in this and little carbs and that and all of a sudden those "little carbs" have ended up being a lot of carbs.
There might also be factors you're not aware of are a problem. A lot of people on LCHF are extra sensitive when it comes to milk and nuts and eating too much of that could completely stop your weight loss no matter how little carbs you eat.

You eat too little

Some of us are stuck in the "old" thinking where you believe you lose weight if you eat less calories. Which in it's own way is true but you'll gain it again when you start eating. When your body isn't getting enough calories it puts itself in starvation mode and refuses to let go of any excess fat it has. Also when hungry the body releases a stress hormone and we've already established what that does to your body.
So eat when you're hungry and stop when you're full. Listen to your body and not to the clock telling you it's time to eat

You only have a small overweight

This is where I'm stuck at the moment and it's completely different. It's going to take more time to lose these last few kilos as the body might be quite happy with where it is at the moment. All you can do at this point is just wait.
Alternatively the body already has its perfect weight, the one you're supposed to have, as LCHF isn't a traditional diet, it's to stabilise your weight. So if you're underweight it'll make you gain weight and if you're overweight it'll make you lose it.





For me, it's a mix of the last two. I only have a few kilos left to lose and since I'm struggling with them I fall back into my old thinking of counting calories and reduce my intake even though I know I've lost 10 kilos while eating properly and probably over the recommended calorie intake per day.

But now I've realised I'm still not losing weight by radically cutting out calories so I'm going over to plan B (another take on the original plan A). Force-feeding myself!
Don't worry, it's not as bad as it sounds, but I have a tendency of ignoring hunger feelings (something still hanging around from starvation diets maybe?!) and I don't eat enough. So my fear now is that my body is saving whatever it can get hold of.

Before changing my eating pattern these past days, I had reduced my calorie intake to 1230 calories a day when the common number for the body to put itself in starvation mode in 1200. To avoid that happening I am now "force-feeding" myself so I get 500 more calories a day adding up to around 1700-1800 calories a day which is completely normal for someone wanting to lose weight healthily.









more information at:
http://kolhydrater.ifokus.se/(in Swedish only unfortunately)
http://undergroundwellness.com/

Why have sauce with the dinner when you can have dinner with the sauce?

In Sweden we have something we call ”fredaysmys” or ”Friday cosiness” for you.
The fact that we have an actual word for it may sound a bit silly but it's massive in Sweden so go there and say it and we'll all know what you're on about. Basically, it's the Friday night, the first night where you can sit with your family and stay up and eat and drink good and you don't have to worry about getting up the morning after.
There’s even a song about it

"Det finns en dag då man kan andas ut.
Man slipper chefens tjat & kommer hem till slut.
Since i move here all i do is mysa mys. (yes we do)
Det är dags för fredags mys, om det så är det sista jag gör.
Snart är det fredags mys. hoppas inte föräldrarna stör.
Nu är det slut på veckan, det är dags för fredags mys!"

"There's a day when you can relax.
You don't have to hear the boss nagging and you get home on time.
Since I move here all I do is "mysa mys" (yes we do).
It's time for fredagsmys, even if it's the last thing I'll do.
It'll soon be fredagsmys, hope the parents won't disturb.
This is the end of the week, it's time for fredagsmys!"

So yeah as you may have guessed the advert is for crisps and that there's no fredagsmys without crisps.
But for us dieters it's all about doing the best of the situation.
So my "fredagsmys" treat last night was beef with cheese, hollandaise sauce and underground vegetables. A bit naughty but still within the limit of 20 grams of carbohydrates per day.

I love fredagsmys!

Determination

My friend Sophie says: "I wish I had your determination."
I've never really thought of myself as determined. This is just something I do.
But then I realised that this is what I have on the wall next to my bed only because it adds a bit of colour to my room so maybe she does have a point.

Better than a chinese

Have done a fair bit of work today so treated myself to two squares of chocolate. 85-%-and-therefor-I'm-allowed-to-eat-chocolate of course.

What should I eat?

Hi first I'd like to apologize for the lack of updates here. Have been a bit busy and also went away for Easter weekend.



I was buying burgers the other day. Sainsbury's frozen 100% beef burgers...with 1.4 grams of carbohydrates in it.
Now something doesn't add up here. Oh yeah, it's the fact that 100% meat should contain as little as zero, nada, nil grams of carbohydrates. It probably wouldn't look at good but I'd prefer it if they wrote 99% beef burgers because it isn't a 100%.

After that I've made a habit of checking everything I buy, not assuming I know what's in the products because even if I know what should be in a packet of something there's nothing saying it actually is like that.

And it also makes me think about how different the nutrition values can be on the same product but from similar brands.

Example!

Sainsbury's Desiccated Coconut per 100 grams - 6.4 grams
Crazy Jack's Organic Desiccated Coconut per 100 grams - 8.2 grams
ICA's Organic Desiccated Coconut from Sweden per 100 grams - 1.5 grams (!!!) (no link unfortunately)


In this case it's not the carbs themselves that worry me, it's more the fact that what is supposed to be the same product in fact isn't.
And 100% beef burger should be 100% beef so why is the nutritional facts different on something that is supposed to be zero?

FAILURE

So, Easter time ey? Two weeks off uni and the chance to take my work load with me and go home to Sweden to see family and friends.
Yeah right!

This was the plan!

Mr Huggable and me in January. JANUARY!!!

Oh yes, I too was meant to go home to Sweden and see the guy I'm dating and maybe give my mother a little visit to say "hello how are you". But nooooo, I'm destined to be at uni with a lot of work to do and no one to go to sleep with at night thanks to lack of funding and the realisation that I sometimes tend to be followed by bad luck that I had a feeling would strike when overseas and my computer would fail where there's no university newsroom in sight to work in. So here I am.


What's the solution to this then?


This is!!!!

I don't care what any experts say. Comfort eating rocks! Especially when it's a chinese take away with so much sweet and sour sauce the artificial colours in it could re-paint the whole university.
The good thing is that it feels good until tomorrow morning when I wake up and feel like shit and I realise how good proper food makes me feel and I won't want any more shit food.
But still, it's in me now so thank God I'm playing squash in the morning and that in around five weeks time I will be back in Sweden.

But then again, is it so bad to fail? I have to live, don't I?

A dinner and its dessert

The best way to spend a Friday night and a Saturday morning when the housemates are in Wales is definitely to go to the shop, get ingredients and cook. No one is in the way trying to cook at the same time and most importantly: the house is nice and quiet and I can listen to music downstairs as the TV isn't on 24/7. Lovely!

So what did I make?

Lasagne

Lasagne
8 portions

3-4 courgettes
1 kg pork mince
250-300 grams Tofu
250 ml double créme
2 tins of sliced mushrooms
Cheese
200 grams feta cheese
Sambal Oelek (very hot)
Spices

Cut the block of tofu as thin as possible and cover them in Sambal Oelek or spices.

Peel the courgettes and cut them in half. Slice them lengthwise about half a cm thick. Put them in a hot dry pan to add some colour and flavour. Then put them at the bottom of a roasting pan.

Fry the mince with spices and put over the courgette.

Drain the mushrooms and put them over the mince.

Make a cheese sauce from the cream and cheese. Boil the cream and remove from hob before putting the cheese in. Don't boil when you have put the cheese in as this could make the sauce grainy.

Pour the sauce over the mince.

Place the tofu over the mince and add a layer of cheese and finally chopped feta cheese.

Put in a preheated oven at 175°C for around 40 minutes


and

Chocolate cake with coffee icing

Chocolate Cake
12-16 portions

200 grams ground almond
200 grams dark chocolate (72% or 85% for a richer flavour)
200 grams real butter (not margarine)
1/2 cup sweetener (effectively 1/2 cup of sugar. If using a sweetener, look at how that specific brand convert the measurements)
25 grams of cocoa powder (can be removed to make it less rich)
5 eggs
A dash of cream

A few drops of peppermint oil if you have it.


Icing
250 grams of mascarpone
5 egg yolks
Instant coffee powder


Melt chocolate and butter in a bowl over hot water.
Mix the dry ingredients and mix with the butter and chocolate.
Add the eggs, a dash of cream and extra flavouring if any and mix well.

Pour the mixture into a greased pan.

Bake in the oven at 150°C for 45-60 minutes depending on how sticky you want it.

Mix the mascarpone and egg yolks and add as much crushed instant coffee as you want. I did mine quite strong as the cake itself is quite rich

Tip the cake onto a plate and let cool before putting on the icing.

Grate some chocolate and put on top.


The cake is very rich so even though it is quite small it serves more people than you think.


Alternative: Skip the icing and serve with whipped cream and raspberries.



So what do we do with the 5 leftover egg whites?
Meringues of course!

5 egg whites
1 cup of sweetener (equals 1 cup of sugar with mine)
A few drops of lemon juice

Whisk whisk whisk and do the over-the-head-trick to see if it's thick enough.

Place on a tray and put in the oven at 125°C for around an hour

My evening

Enjoying a lovely hot chocolate. There's nothing like dieting, ey?!

Lymphoedema and Low Carbs

After gaining 15 kilos since starting university in England 2007 I decided during the summer of 2009 that I was going to lose the unnecessary kilos again. At that point I had barely heard of LCHF but was living with my mother for half the summer and since she was eating according to these guidelines I thought it wouldn’t do me any harm trying. Not did I think then that I would be helped with more than just my weight loss.
I don’t want to say my weight loss has come without fail but the diet has given me the patience to wait for the kilos to slowly disappear instead of giving up like I’ve done on numerous of diets before.
Now nine months later I’ve lost ten kilos and I’ve still allowed myself to have weeks off from time to time. But the biggest difference isn’t the weight loss itself but that my general health has improved appreciably.I’m suffering from primary lymphoedema, which means that since birth the lymphatic glands in my legs aren’t working properly.In short this means my legs can’t get rid of excess fluids that are therefore collected in my legs and swellings appear.

On and off this can cause a lot of discomfort as the swellings can stretch the skin. The condition is also drying out the skin as the nutrition in my blood can’t reach the skin properly.
This is a condition that I, from several doctors, have been led to believe is something that I will have to live with and that there’s nothing I can do apart from trying to manage it in the best possible way. I accepted this and that I would never wear a dress and for 23 years this was my reality.

There are no solid evidence that a lymphoedema treatment works better with a diet containing products with a low carbohydrate content but some doctors support this (however not mine) and I am now also willing to stand behind the statement that it does help.

When it comes to the weight loss itself, I don’t know enough about diets in general to know if I lose weight because of the exclusion of carbohydrates or if it’s because I eat less calories due to greater feeling of satisfaction because of the fat but in the end I’m just happy I’m losing weight. But I can say for sure through my own experience that by removing unnecessary carbohydrates in my diet, my legs are now less swollen compared to before I gained the weight.

By rarely having “pins and needles” in my legs anymore I’ve come to the only likely conclusion that the carbohydrates in the quantity I ate them made my condition worse.
It would be easy to say that it got better because I’ve lost weight and therefore the appearance of my legs has improved and I can agree to an extent. But there is so much more to include; the problems were there even before I gained the weight in the first place and now the dryness on my legs has improved as well. Even my hands, which every winter dries out and cracks with bleedings as a result, are feeling better.

Another reason why I want to believe this is working is that since Christmas (after a break for Christmas and holiday) I’ve been on this low carbohydrate diet and felt fine. But in February I went to Sweden and stayed with my boyfriend where we had a lot of pizza, sweets, pasta and crisps. For about two weeks afterwards I had “pins and needles” in my legs at night and I can’t believe that’s a coincidence. That’s proof enough for me.
But at the same time, I want to point out that I don’t believe the diet alone is the solution to the problem.

According to my lymphoedema specialist here in England, lymphoedema can potentially be dangerous because of the legs having, and always will have, a reduced immune defence with an increased risk of dangerous infections. Therefore I believe that a good diet together with continuous treatments is the best option. So with good food mixed with support stockings, rich moisturisers and shower crèmes kind to the skin I think you’re going to get very far.

I know I’ve come far with this combination and now you can see me in a dress on the shopping trip as well as on the night out and the wardrobe is constantly growing now when I’ve found a whole new department to shop in.

(picture from http://www.sydostran.se/index.72975---1.html)

This post has been published as an article in Swedish here

Hints and Tips

Smoked mackerel is just amazing!
The egg milk with chocolate flavour is just amazing!
Egg milk with chocolate flavour just after you've had smoked mackerel is horrendous.

Bottom line: Do not mix smoked mackerel and chocolate drink. Ever!

Preparing for a Friday night out

A problem that many people on a Low Carb High Fat diet seem to experience is that when drinking alcohol, the effect of it is a lot stronger and people who have previously been able to drink quite a bit can no longer handle it like they used to. As far as I know there is no answer to why this is happening.

Tomorrow I'm going out for a 21.st birthday and since I've been told (not asked) that I WILL be there and that I WILL drink cocktails with miss Birthday (not that I'm complaining though) I have tried to prepare my body these past few days. I don't know if it makes a different at all but to me it's all about "better safe than sorry".

I have been adding a bit more carbs to my meals and hopefully it will make a difference.

For tea yesterday and today I therefore had pork with a garlic cheese sauce, mushrooms and lots of spices served with feta cheese and cauliflower

Fry the pork in butter and add looooads of spices.
Put soft cheese with garlic and some butter in a bowl and add boiling water and stir.
Add the sauce to the pork and let it simmer for a while so it thickens and the spices and sauce mix well.

I prefer to put the meat and sauce on top of the feta cheese as it melts it a bit, which is just lovely.

Eat!



(And yes your observation was correct, I did say I might have a cocktail or two and yes there might be carbs in there but hey, it's her 21.st birthday and why have rules if you're not allowed to break them from time to time?)

Sticking to it

Beer on St. Patrick's Day? I think not!

Do i have to do it?

When starting a Facebook group for my blog I got a message from my lovely cousin asking if I really had to go through the trouble of going on a diet? Can't I just eat normal and eat less? I could do, and I believe it would work too - theoretically. But at the same time I know myself. I know that me eating little would turn into me eating a bit more and then I'm sat there with a full plate of delicious food.
Also, when I don't eat it I don't want it. When I eat a slice of bread, I want one more. When I eat sweets, I want more. When I don't eat it? Well then I don't want it.
The good thing about being on a diet for me is that it is something special. I actually find it quite fun and challenging because it forces me to think about what I do.
At the moment with sharing a house at university there isn't much room for experimental cooking but on the other hand I have a lot of time on my hands to search the web for recipes and tips. For example did you know you can bake on protein powder that people that go to the gym use? I for sure didn't. Now that's not a realistic option as the products I've been looking at cost nearly £20 per kilo but that shows there are alternatives out there and there's more and more coming. I also found that on the 31st of March the first Low Carb High Fat book with baking recipes is coming out in Sweden to which I will soon be going back. Great! 104 pages of baking recipes with no flour or sugar. And why do you need flour and sugar? Last summer I made a cheesecake for my family without any of them and it was the dessert hit of that summer and the taste was no different apart from the nuts I used in the base instead of Digestive.
My point is that there is so much out there to help that once you know what you're doing there's not much different from cooking what's considered normal food. It's not about skipping something and leaving an empty space on the plate, it's about replacing. I mean, do I really need that potato with my food when I can have cauliflower?
At the end of the day, for me at least, it's all about thinking outside the box and creating a whole new lifestyle. If it works and I feel good then I don't see why not.

Cinnamon can be dangerous

As I wrote in my previous post I am a real sucker for cinnamon and I use it with anything I can from rice pudding (in the non dieting times of my life) to cottage cheese.
But recently I found out that cinnamon in too big doses could actually be dangerous for you. Some sorts of cinnamon are containing something called Coumarin which can be toxic to the liver and has been banned from numerous countries since the mid 20th century.

This should not put anyone off from eating cinnamon, only warn people who likes cinnamon a bit too much (like me) that there can be side effects to it.

Some of the more common side effects that have been documented from eating coumarin is:
*Unusual bruising
*Bleeding
*Blood in the urine
*Blackened stools
*Diarrhoea
*Rash
*Hair loss
*Feeling or being sick

But like I said, there is no need to be alarmed as long as you eat moderate doses of cinnamon. In fact around half a teaspoon a day can be good for you.

But since I took my passion for cinnamon a bit too far and ate it with my egg milk twice a day and quite a lot of it since I like it when there's a lot of flavour I decided to try out some new flavours.
I swapped the butter in the egg milk for creamed coconut to give it a hint of coconut and in half of it I added cocoa and it was lovely.
On paper cocoa contains a bit more carbs that I would've wished for (a bit over 13 grams/100 grams) but in this case that's nothing to worry about as you use so little of it.
I used the Black and Green's organic cocoa and it was great as it's so strong you only use a tiny bit of it.
The other half of the batch I left as it was with only the coconut flavour. I must say I prefer the chocolate one but that is because I like it when I can feel distinct flavours. The coconut flavoured one was nice, just a bit too little flavour but there is coconut flavouring to buy although I haven't tried it.

The only negative thing I found about this version of the drink was that when I tried reheating it on the stove this morning the coconut ended up as little flakes. But as the drink itself isn't as thick as the cinnamon one it is easier (and very nice) to drink cold.

Here we go!

So I'm back in England and I no longer have any (mostly made up) excuses not to follow my diet anymore.

Feeling a bit, well I guess the right word for it is, fat after a week of too much nom nom food in Sweden I'm now focusing 100 per cent on my diet again. I'm going to start off with a "Fakir Diet". It's easy and potentially boring but like the sucker for cinnamon that I am I love it (see recipe further down)

The word Fakir means "poor" or that you give up what there is to eat and eat very simply.
There seems to be several definitions and ideas of what you're supposed to eat when you're on a Fakir Diet but I choose to do the extreme version and eat nothing but fat and protein.

Breakfast and lunch contain of the same thing, an "egg milk" made of egg, butter and optional flavouring where I choose cinnamon.

2 eggs
25-50 g butter
2-3 dl boiling water
Flavouring

Whisk the eggs in a bowl and melt the butter in the boiling water. I add the cinnamon to the boiling water and whisk to avoid getting lumps.
Then add the boiling to water and butter to the eggs but make sure to whisk as the eggs might boil otherwise.

There are different flavours you can use depending on how strict you are with the carbs.
Some flavours you can use are
Cacao
Cinnamon
vanilla
Saffron
Mint
Cream
Coffee
Berries




For dinner I eat nothing but protein e.g. meat and fat.

Obviously this isn't a diet to continue with but to get the weight loss going.


Starting a Fakir Diet isn't to recommend unless you've been on a Low Carb High Fat diet for some time. The recommendations are that you give your body at least three months to get used to the lower intake of carbs by limiting yourself to a maximum of 20 grams per day.


Personally, I have been on a Fakir Diet before and for me it works but unfortunately it comes with some side effects. Cutting out all carbs like that is obviously a shock to the body and you may or may not feel anything of it.
I have only been on it for one day now and unfortunately I am one of them affected by the less pleasant sides of dieting. As I write I have a headache, my neck feels stale and I am hungry. But having done this before, I know that the headache will go and I'm hungry since I'm used to eating so much more having lived off pizza and tacos last week.
All I can do is wait for it to go and enjoy the result.

The start

It feels a bit ironic to be starting a blog about my progress with my dieting when, at the moment, I'm sitting on my lazy arse on a sofa in Sweden with a cup of rosehip soup and cream in front of me.
As usual the very handy excuse "I'm allowed to because this is like a holiday to me" is used frequently even though I know that I'm in Sweden way too often for it to even be counted as a holiday anymore.

But even though I seem to be failing even before I've started I can at least tell you what it is I'm supposed to be doing here.
The miracle diet that's supposed to make me the most amazing dieter ever is LCHF or Low Carb High Fat. Bottom line is that I'm going to become the new skinny me with butter and cheese.
I can live with that! Well I can from Friday at least as today another miracle is happening. A certain special someone is making me tacos today. An opportunity too good to miss.


And here's what it's all about!